This article focuses on the organizational decline and, more specifically,
the evolution of a selected group of Brazilian companies that were
included in the Largest and Best ranking of Exame magazine in the
period between 1974 and 2006. Our descriptive analysis shows two
main effects: firstly a high rate of decline among the largest Brazilian
enterprises and secondly, that there is an acceleration of the decline
process, that is: the companies have become gradually less capable of
maintaining a superior level of competitiveness during an extended
period of time. The study of the strategy, as a discipline, that seeks to
understand and aid companies to capture and sustain a competitive
advantage shall be reinforced by the understanding of the causes of
unsuccessfulness and the loss of their ability to sustain
competitiveness. Organizational Decline is, in this context, a process
that warrants further analysis